The present application relates to computer network data management, and more particularly to a visual graphic system and method for efficient computer network data accessing and management with a network map.
Note that the points discussed below may reflect the hindsight gained from the disclosed inventions, and are not necessarily admitted to be prior art.
In recent decades, computer network systems have become very complex. There are many interwoven levels of network connections, such as Local Area Networks (LAN), Personal Area Networks (PAN), Home Area Networks (HAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), Enterprise Private Networks, Internetworks, Backbone Networks (BBN), Global Area Networks (GAN), the Internet, and the Wireless networks of smart phones and tablet devices (G3 and G4, for example), to name a few. Device data expansion is exponential and continues to be. The tasks for efficiently accessing and managing network data remain to be highly challenging.
Moreover, a computer network is always in a state of dynamic changing. In other words, by their nature, computer networks are not static; rather, they are continually being changed, reconfigured and upgraded. To efficiently manage vast and dynamic computer networks, one must be able to provide an accurate “snapshot” representation of the network and its data at any given point of time.
Inspired by the concepts of zoomable geographic mapping and multi-layers of representation of granularity, NetBrain Technologies Company in Massachusetts has developed a unique Qmap computer network management system for managing network changes. Fully GUI based, Qmap network management system enables network engineers to manage network devices and systems similar to a geographic map system.
As set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 8,386,593 B1 to Gao et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,386,937 B1 to Gao et al, and the entirety of these publications are thus incorporated by reference, the Qmap network management system organizes network devices into multi-layers of visual graphic representations, linked both by logic and by physical relationships. Network management engineers can not only visually observe a computer network on a computer screen, but also can directly and intuitively interact with the network to the smallest detail of a device as well as to the highest level of grand network design.
With the Qmap system, network engineers can create a network Qmap instantly for a network management task and use that Qmap as the platform for further analysis and troubleshooting. Network engineers can tackle tasks with ease that include network diagramming and documentation, performance troubleshooting, and network design analysis. For example, using Q-maps, the approach to troubleshooting a network problem becomes a three-step automated process: 1) mapping the problem area, 2) probing the live network from the map to obtain current network information, and 3) comparing the current network information with historical information maintained for the network.
Within the Qmap system, network device data accesses have been automated at multiple layers, each layer of data and their representation can be automatically retrieved, stored and analyzed.
However, due to limited on-screen space, current Qmap system has limited capacity to display a large amount of static and dynamic data. In order to allow for dynamic data display and more task-oriented data interactions, NetBrain Technologies thus provides an improved data view system and method that can be easily applied to a network map, particularly a network Qmap, to allow for data display according to different types of actual network management tasks.